Iraq authorises Russia to strike Islamic State inside country

[Yusuf]

The Iraqi government authorised Russia to target Islamic State group convoys coming from Syria, a senior Iraqi official said.

The authorisation for Russia to target IS inside Iraq comes amid security coordination between Iraq, Russia, Iran and Syria.

Hakem al-Zamli, chief of the Iraqi parliament’s security and defense committee, told Anadolu Agency on Friday that the measure contributed to weakening IS by cutting off its supply routes.

Russia, an ally of the Assad regime, began carrying out airstrikes in Syria on 30 September. According to the Kremlin, the strikes are aimed at weakening the IS militant group, an avowed enemy of the regime.

Turkey and several western countries, however, accuse Russia of targeting rebel groups in Syria opposed to Assad, many of which enjoy the support of Ankara and Washington.

Iraq has been gripped by a security vacuum since June 2014 when IS stormed the northern city of Mosul and declared a self-styled caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria.


http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/i...islamic-state-inside-country-1869786714#.dpuf


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[amoy]

Iran Iraq Hezbollah and Syria ~ a Shiite crescent in the making. interesting times ahead.

~Tapa talks: Orange is the new black.~

 

[BATTLE FIELD]

Iraq’s ruling bloc wants Russian airstrikes, politician tells RT ‘lack of trust’ between Iraq & US
Published time: 21 Oct, 2015 13:52
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Iraqi security forces © Stringer / Reuters

Iraq's ruling alliance has written to the country’s prime minister, requesting Russian help in the fight against ISIS terrorists. An Iraqi politician told RT that the public wants Russian involvement and there is breakdown in trust with the Americans.
TrendsIraq carnage, Islamic State, Russian anti-terror op in Syria
“The largest bloc has sent a request to the prime minister to add further forces to the fight against terrorism and not only to rely on the United States and the international coalition, which has up till now been rather shy in its efforts to destroy [Islamic State] bases in Iraq,” Saad Al-Matlabi, a member of the country's State of Law Coalition, told RT.

“Therefore it is understandable that the Iraqi parliament and the defense committee would send a request to the prime minister to add more forces and in particular the forces of the Russian Federation, which has proved quite efficient in destroying [Islamic State] bases in neighboring Syria.”

The Iraqi politician told RT that the US has been “shy” in its efforts to try and eliminate the threat posed by Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL). He also mentioned that not only is there a consensus amongst Iraqi politicians for Moscow to be involved, but also from the general public.

“The public mood is definitely in favor of Russian involvement because it has been over a year and a half now and ISIS has flourished in Iraq under the American airstrikes. One could question the honesty and integrity of the US airstrikes.”

Iraqi security forces hold an Islamist State flag which they pulled down at the University of Anbar, in Anbar province © Stringer / Reuters
Al-Matlabi pointed to information received from US sources, which stated that 75 percent of American warplanes returned to base without firing their weapons against ISIS targets, while Washington has not been forthcoming in living up to its promises. The State of Law Alliance member stated that so far Baghdad has only received “three or four F-16’s” out of a total of 36, which were promised back in 2011.

“There is a lack of trust amongst the Iraqi forces towards the US forces,” he said. “The Americans definitely do not trust the Iraqi forces; therefore the Americans will not strike targets that they have been sent by Iraq. The Americans only attack targets they define to be ISIS.”

Despite this “breakdown in trust,” he said that Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has been coming under pressure from Washington not to ask for help from Moscow.

"Abadi told the meeting parties that it wasn't the right time to include the Russians in the fight because that would only complicate the situation with the Americans and could have undesired consequences even on long-term future relations with America," a senior Shi'ite politician close to Abadi told Reuters.

The US’s top general announced Wednesday that he has been told by Al-Abadi and Defense Minister Khaled Al-Obeidi that Baghdad would not be seeking Russian assistance.

"Both the minister of defense and the prime minister said: 'Absolutely.' There is no request right now for the Russians to support them, there's no consideration for the Russians to support them, and the Russians haven't asked them to come in and conduct operations,” Gen. Joseph Dunford said on a visit to Iraq, as cited by Reuters.

The US general, who was appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 1, said that he was against Russia becoming involved as it would make it harder for the US to operate.

"I said it would make it very difficult for us to be able to provide the kind of support that you need if the Russians were here conducting operations as well," Dunford said.

However, Dunford’s optimism seems to be contradicted by Al-Matlabi’s admission and previous statements by Al-Abadi who on October 1 said that he would “welcome” Russian intervention.

A destroyed building is seen at the University of Anbar, in Anbar province © Stringer / Reuters
In an interview with France-24 TV, he accused the US-led coalition of a lack of support as well as questioning the will of the West to defeat Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). He added that Russian airstrikes were a “possibility” but such an option had not been discussed.

“If we get the offer, we’ll consider it,” Al-Abadi said. “In actual fact, I would welcome it.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov seemed to rule out Moscow getting involved for the moment, saying: "We are not planning to expand our airstrikes to Iraq. We were not invited, not asked."

"We are polite people, as you know. We don’t come if not invited," he said on October 1 at the UN General Assembly.



https://www.rt.com/news/319285-iraq-airstrikes-russia-us/

 

[BATTLE FIELD]

Obama makes clear that America’s war against Russia is more important than America’s war against ISIS.

Eric Zuesse

On October 14th, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the U.S. government had turned down the proposal from Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for the U.S. and Russia to cooperate together to eliminate ISIS and other jihadists in Syria and in Iraq. Lavrov said:

We’ve made Americans the proposal announced by President Vladimir Putin yesterday. We suggested that they send a [US] military delegation to Moscow to coordinate a number of joint steps, and after that we could have sent to Washington a top-level delegation led by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, [but] … It is sad that our American colleagues in this case in fact do not side with those who fight against terrorism.

Then, on Tuesday October 20th, as CBS News online reported the following day, “The U.S. has told Iraq’s leaders they must choose between ongoing American support in the battle against militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and asking the Russians to intervene instead. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that the Iraqis had promised they would not request any Russian airstrikes or support for the fight against ISIS.”

However, Iraq already had done precisely that — and had even said that Russia seemed more committed to defeating ISIS than America is. As I summed up on October 10th:

Wednesday, October 7th, Reuters headlined, “Iraq Leans Toward Russia in War on Islamic State,” and reported, from Baghdad, that, “Iraq … wants Moscow to have a bigger role than the United States in the war against the militant group, the head of parliament’s defense and security committee said on Wednesday.”

Earlier, in an interview in English, with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, telecast on October 2nd, France24 TV asked him how he would view an extension of Russia’s anti-ISIS bombing campaign into Iraq, and he said (7:54), “I would welcome it.”

So, at some time between October 7th and October 20th, the U.S. convinced Iraq’s leaders to, in essence, dis-invite the Russians, instead of to ally with them against ISIS in Iraq.

Two alternative explanations are possible. Either the U.S. had promised the Iraqis that the U.S. will now really get serious about defeating ISIS in Iraq, or else the U.S. had promised the Iraqis that Iraq would be punished — at the IMF or elsewhere — if Iraq followed through on their announced intention to replace the U.S. with Russia. (Or, of course, the U.S. could have done both — the carrot, and the stick.)

In either case (or both), the U.S. has made clear, to the Iraqis, that America will do anything to defeat Russia — even abandon the fight against ISIS in Iraq, if need be — and that the U.S. will absolutely not ally with Russia against ISIS, under any circumstances.

This makes abundantly clear, to the whole world, that the current American government considers its main enemy to be not jihadists, but Russians.

However, already, U.S. President Barack Obama had made this clear when, in his National Security Strategy 2015, he named Russia on 17 of the 18 occasions in which he charged “aggression.” The 18th instance was not Saudi Arabia, the main funder of jihadists, but instead North Korea, which poses little real threat to any U.S. ally except South Korea, and none at all to the United States. (And, of course, the U.S. President didn’t cite the U.S., which in a 2013 WIN/Gallup International poll was overwhelmingly named the most throughout the world as “the country that represents the greatest threat to peace in the world today.”)

http://rinf.com/alt-news/editorials...u-ally-w-russia-against-isis-youre-our-enemy/

 

[Kshatriya87]

Hope they don't come south, I'm here.

 

[pmaitra]

@BATTLE FIELD, I have a request for you. Please do not open a new thread when a thread already exists. We want to avoid having the same discussion in multiple threads. I know you are new. Just pointing out.

Thanks!

 

[BATTLE FIELD]

@BATTLE FIELD, I have a request for you. Please do not open a new thread when a thread already exists. We want to avoid having the same discussion in multiple threads. I know you are new. Just pointing out.

Thanks!

sorry sir its my mistake i m having some difficulties using the forum
its different from other forums.

 

[Zebra]

Iran Iraq Hezbollah and Syria ~ a Shiite crescent in the making. interesting times ahead.

~Tapa talks: Orange is the new black.~

What will be the Chinese roll in it....!....?

 

[amoy]

What will be the Chinese roll in it....!....?

what do u think of the Chinese role in this when China is the no.1 crude oil importer from Iran, the top gun of Shia, as well as the biggest trade partner with it?

and in Sept Russia again surpassed Saudi in oil shipment to China.

only on basis of economic stamina are these fights being fought on.

~Tapa talks: Orange is the new black.~

 

[J.A.]

Kurdish and Iraqi Armed can win togheter vs ISIS.

Persham Army have controll over all territorium in Kurdistan. Close to truth.

 

[DingDong]

Kurdish and Iraqi Armed can win togheter vs ISIS.

Persham Army have controll over all territorium in Kurdistan. Close to truth.

Wow we have got our own resident troll.

 

[J.A.]

No I am Nordic or Scandinavia born boy.